Light
by Flying Iridescent Llamas
Summary: Gladion opened his mouth to object again, but Hau quickly kissed him. "Stop. Worrying. You can do this, mea aloha. You succeed in everything you do. This will be just another item on the list." / Solutions are found, but they're not the ones that everyone wants. (Haudion/Cutebonesshipping, sixth in the Isolation series)


Written for theme #3, "Light".

Thanks to Hunterx700 for beta-ing this! 3

If it's not apparent from the story, this takes place at least a decade after Pokemon Sun and Moon.

I guess it needs to be said, but the currently prevailing theory is that Mohn is Lillie and Gladion's father. The theory goes that after being sucked into a wormhole, he somehow made his way out into the Poke Pelago.

As always, my tumblr is llamastheflying if you wanna hit me up with any questions or complaints.

* * *

The best families were the ones made from love, not necessarily blood.

Maybe Hala had been the one to tell him that, maybe he'd learned it on his own, but in either case Hau took it to heart when his father took off for parts unknown. At the time, Hau wasn't able to understand why anyone would want to leave their large and happy family. Why go anywhere else when love was so readily available?

He still didn't entirely understand it years later, but he could to some extent. Life as a Kahuna was intense and the expectations were high, but Hau wouldn't have traded it for any other lot. The friends (and family) he'd gained throughout the years far outweighed any downside to the job.

The past six or so months had been some of the happiest he'd ever had. Even now, he watched his new family relax in the living room in the dying light of the afternoon and felt sheer content spread warmly through his body. Gladion was sitting on the couch, wearing an old torn up shirt while he struggled to keep the newest addition to their family, a Type: Null, still in his lap. Silvally watched on from where it rested its head against the arm of the couch and Raichu snoozed in its bed in the corner, partially levitated off of it from whatever dream he was having.

"If you're going to stand there and stare, you can come help me," Gladion hissed as he caught a flailing leg. He was attempting to file down Null's talons slightly so it would be able to freely wander the house without damaging most of the interior. Silvally was long used to living in doors and usually had little problem minding its sharp talons, but Null was still learning.

"I'll make its struggling worse if I come over there."

"Only because it knows you're such a sap that it can get away with murder around you."

The Pokemon whined softly as Gladion finally managed to pin it. Actually filing down the talons took much less than time than wrangling Null and it was soon released from his lap. It skittered across the floor, helmet crashing against the coffee table as it made its way outside. Silvally promptly chased after it and Hau shut the door behind them. Gladion let his head fall back against the couch and sighed.

"At least this one is much smaller than Silvally ever was. I wasn't able to do this with it and you saw the result of that."

Hau noticed blood starting to drip down Gladion's arm from where an errant talon had swiped him and grabbed the first aid kit from where he'd the forethought to put it on the counter. It was a testament to how relaxed Gladion had grown to be around him that he didn't flinch when Hau suddenly intruded into his space.

"Did it get you anywhere else?" Hau asked as he tied off the bandage on Gladion's arm.

"No, thankfully." Gladion let Hau pull him into his lap and buried his head into the crook of his neck. They hadn't much of a chance to just be together since Gladion had started to analyze Mew's sequence a few months before and Hau missed Gladion's presence so much it started to ache in his chest. It seemed like when one was home, the other wasn't. If Gladion wasn't at the lab, then Hau was dealing with the increasingly frequent wormholes that opened up somewhere on the islands. The only time they really saw each other was when they crawled into bed together at night, but both were usually too exhausted to do much more than sleep.

Hau ran his hands down Gladion's sides before digging his fingers into Gladion's ever tense lower back. Gladion shivered slightly and let out a small, muffled sound that caused heat to start to gather in Hau's stomach.

"It's so nice just have a moment to relax with you," he murmured as he pressed a kiss to the top of Gladion's head. Gladion tilted his head up and caught Hau's lips in a soft kiss that quickly turned into an exchange of licks and bites. Hau pushed him back against the couch gently and started to trail small nips down Gladion's neck as his hands found their way under Gladion's shirt. Gladion arched up into his touch and whined before his fingers tangled into Hau's hair, pulling out the tie and the clips.

Had either of them been paying more attention, they would have noticed Hau's Raichu suddenly perking up from its nap across the room in response to some yet unknown thing. Oblivious (or perhaps uncaring) as to what was happening on the couch, he picked up Hau's Xtransceiver and levitated it so it floated right behind Hau's head. Hau and Gladion finally noticed, though, when it exploded into sound. They both jumped and Hau reluctantly pulled away from where he was attempting to leave a mark right below Gladion's collarbone. He reached behind him for the Xtransceiver and Raichu let it drop into his hand. He was careful to answer it with audio only.

"This is Hau," he said as he carefully climbed off of Gladion. Gladion grumbled and reached over the edge of the couch to feel around for where his shirt had landed.

"Hey Hau! It's Lillie. I was wondering if you and my brother would be able to swing by the Paradise today. I know it's short notice, but it's super important. Anabel from the International Police is here and hoping to talk with you guys."

"I guess we could do that, yeah," he replied as he trailed a hand teasingly up Gladion's chest before he could put his shirt back on. Gladion snarled something at him as he yanked the shirt over his head. "Just give us a bit."

"Oh, I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" Lillie asked with a giggle. Gladion snatched the Xtransceiver out of his hands.

"Yes, in fact, you did," he growled and Hau could hear Lillie's explosive laughter from where he stood. "Now let us get ready in peace!"

He swiped to end the call and shoved the Xtransceiver back at Hau, face burning. Hau only chuckled as he wrapped it around his wrist one more before kissing Gladion's forehead.

"No rest for the wicked, I guess."

* * *

Thankfully, they were able to make it to the Paradise before the sun set below the waves on the back of a Charizard. Gladion had calmed down somewhat on the way there, but it might have been helped by the fact that he pressed against Hau's chest the entire way.

Lillie was waiting for them when they landed and quickly lead them down to the main lab where Gladion usually worked. Red and Blue were waiting for them already, with Anabel sitting across the table from them with Moon at her side. A laptop between them showed that Dawn, who had returned to Sinnoh shortly before the Mew ordeal, was sitting in on this meeting as well.

"I'm glad you could make it," Anabel said as she extended a hand towards Gladion, who reluctantly shook it before he plopped down in one of the empty chairs beside Hau. "I don't think we've formally met. I'm Anabel, as you may already know. I was hoping to speak with all of you today regarding the influx of Ultra Beasts in the region as well as some ways that the Aether Foundation can hopefully help us in our efforts to get this situation stabilized."

A claxon suddenly rang out, announcing the presence of yet another wormhole somewhere in the region. Gladion jumped to his feet, ready to take care of, but Anabel caught his shoulder.

"Leave it for now," she told him. "The other Kahunas can handle it. We need to have this discussion."

"This is getting out of control!" Gladion snarled as he ran a hand through his hair and sank into his chair. Hau resisted the urge to touch him, to try to calm him down because he knew it would only make Gladion's aggravation worse. "We're having at least three wormholes opening up every day now, and that number seems to be increasing."

"Agreed," Anabel said as she leaned back in her chair. "We're not going to have the bodies required to handle this crisis soon. The frequency of the wormholes are increasing almost exponentially, as compared to almost twenty years ago when we started tracking them. I heard that you were looking into the Beast Killer project a little more deeply and wanted to stop by to propose something to you."

"Which is?"

"To combat the increased presence of UBs in the region, I would ask that you restart the Beast Killer project. Silvally seems to be one of the only truly effective Pokemon against UBs and we could use more like it."

"Absolutely not!" Gladion spat.

"Why? Is it an issue of compensation, or lack of manpower? I can assure that the International Police can provide you with both."

"It's an issue of ethics! Creating Pokemon in labs isn't right!"

"So what does that say about the artificial breeding programs your sister is currently running? Aren't those Pokemon created in labs as well?"

A snarl ripped from Gladion's throat and this time, Hau did grab his arm to keep him seated. Lillie spoke up next from where she sat next to the champion.

"Gladion, think about it. Our guardians and Nebby can only do so much to combat them, even with Silvally and Type: Null's help. Nebby especially can only really create portals to shove the UBs back through. It's almost like space is destabilizing here and I'm not sure why. Even Dad doesn't have a clue. I don't think we have any other solution."

"I might." All the eyes in the room turned to the laptop that had been set up. Dawn continued, "I set up some of the equipment Mohn graciously sent with me at the Spear Pillar on a hunch. An old friend helped me analyze the results and I think I have a working hypothesis as to why this is happening. Gladion, the locations of the portals in Alola correspond to almost the same place in the UB dimension every time, correct?"

Gladion nodded.

"Technically, this should be happening everywhere if that's the case, but it's obviously not. The data I collected at the Spear Pillar suggested that the spatial anomalies that happen there from time to time lead to a similar, if not the same dimension. There's something missing in the UB dimension where Alola is connected to that's causing this spatial imbalance."

"What do you think it is, exactly?" Gladion asked.

"A Pokemon. Or Ultra Beast. I'm not sure which it is, anymore. I think that something used to exist in the Alola UB dimension that kept the UBs themselves in check as well as maintaining the balance between the two dimensions. What's happening now is almost like an ecosystem imbalance."

"I have a temporary solution, at best," she continued. "There's a Pokemon that legends say exists in a place on the opposite side of our own, which sounds an awful lot like the UB dimension to me. It seems to maintain balance between our world and its own. I thought at first there might only be one, but some digging by Cynthia has revealed that there seems to be more than one."

"Is this another one of those Pokemon that you've supposedly never met, yet know everything about?" Gladion asked grumpily. Dawn only smiled in response.

"I think something must have happened to the one that used to exist around Alola, which is why the region has been plagued by UBs for millennia. It's only now coming to a head because the dimensions are trying to collapse into each other. As Anabel brought up earlier, this seems to be happening at an exponential rate, but it's probably taken at least several millennia to get this bad. I propose that we temporarily relocate the Pokemon from where it resides opposite of the Spear Pillar in Sinnoh until we can find a more permanent solution."

"Won't that leave Sinnoh vulnerable to the same phenomenon?" Blue pointed out.

"I don't believe so," Dawn replied. "At least, not right away. Cynthia thinks she may have found something that can provide a more permanent solution, but it will take time to explore that option fully."

"So what? Someone has to go through a portal and catch the damn thing?" Gladion asked.

"Yes."

A heavy, contemplative silence fell on the lab.

"I'll do it," Red and Moon offered at the same time. Dawn shook her head.

"No," she said. "There's really only one person who can do this. This Pokemon might technically be an Ultra Beast itself and we need to be prepared for that possibility. Red, your team is not exactly prepared to deal with UBs. Moon, you have Nebby but you're both needed here to keep this situation from deteriorating anymore than it is." A stern look from Dawn silenced any objections they might have.

"Gladion, you're the best choice to do this. You have both Silvally and Null at your disposal in case the Pokemon is, in fact, an Ultra Beast and you're perhaps the most knowledgeable person here about the UB dimension. Will you do it?"

"I don't think I really have a choice here," Gladion said quietly.

"It's settled then. I'll start making arrangements for your stay here in Sinnoh. You'll get the details in your email later. If it's possible, I'd like to have a one-on-one call with you later to discuss some of the finer points of this."

After saying her goodbyes and hanging up, their small group dispersed fairly quickly, leaving Hau and Gladion alone in the lab. Gladion cradled his face in his hands and sighed. Hau pulled up a chair beside him and looped an arm around his shoulders.

"I don't know if I can do this, Hau," he admitted quietly. "I mean, so much can go wrong in this situation. What if this doesn't work? What if the Pokemon isn't even there? What if I don't come back-"

"Gladion, Dawn picked you for a reason," Hau interrupted as he tugged Gladion to his side and pressed a kiss to his head. "Everything will work out like it's supposed to, alright? You just need to trust her and trust Silvally and Null." Gladion opened his mouth to object again, but Hau quickly kissed him. "Stop. Worrying. You can do this, mea aloha. You succeed in everything you do. This will be just another item on the list."

Gladion's face flushed slightly as he gently pushed away from Hau's embrace.

"I should probably get everything ready for my absence," he mumbled. "I'm not sure when I'll be leaving but this will take a while either way."

"Do you want me to stick around?" Hau asked. Gladion shook his head.

"No, I'll work better alone. Why don't you have Lillie show you the nursery? I heard that the professor from Johto sent over a Pichu egg the other day."

"If you're sure…" Hau pushed himself to his feet and planted a kiss on Gladion's head. Gladion lightly swiped at him and mumbled something that sounded like, "I'll be fine, you idiot."

"I'll be back down later to make sure you actually come home tonight! Love you!" Hau called over his shoulder as he exited the lab.

"Love you too, idiot," Gladion grumbled in response as he shut the door in Hau's face.

To his surprise, Lillie was waiting for him by the lift.

"Is he going to be alright?" she asked as they stepped on together.

"I think so," Hau said. "He's just got a lot to think through right now. It's best to leave him be for the moment."

Lillie sighed.

"His biggest problem is that he always thinks too much," she admitted. "Sometimes I think he'd be a lot better off if he just let himself _feel_ instead of overanalyzing everything that came his way."

"He's learning," Hau defended as the lift arrived on the main floor. "It's just taking him a while. Now, I believe Gladion mentioned a Pichu egg?"

Lillie sighed again, this time more in exasperation at her friend's Pokemon fixation, as she punched in the door code for the nursery. Much like the conservatory above it, the nursery had mostly natural light from the wall of windows. It was late enough in the day, though, that some of the soft overhead lights had flicked on. The entire room was almost uncomfortably warm, but Hau supposed the baby Pokemon needed it to be that temperature. While some were, as Anabel suggested, bred in a laboratory setting, most were orphans that the Foundation had taken in.

It was far quieter than it'd been on previous visits but it seemed as though nearly all the Pokemon were asleep, either in blanket covered piles in the corners or in the small wading pools provided for them. Only a few Wynaut and Cleffa peered around their hiding places to study them.

"It's over here," Lillie said as she lead Hau to the corner of the room where the incubators where. For the most part, the Foundation preferred to use actual Pokemon to incubate eggs, but sometimes artificial incubators were used if the egg warranted study. This seemed to be the case for this particular egg. Hau recognized it right off the bat from its pattern. He could definitely see the cause for concern, though. What he first believed to be shadowing from the dim lighting was actually an off coloration of an otherwise normal Pichu egg.

"Can I hold it?" he asked, and Lillie nodded. She carefully removed the egg from the warmth of the incubator and handed it to him.

"It doesn't seem to want to hatch at all," she told him. "It arrived here a few weeks ago and Elm had it for several before that. I'm starting to get concerned. It hasn't rocked or moved at all."

"Are you sure it's a viable egg?" he inquired as he shifted it around in his hands. It felt warm, but it could have just been residual heat from the incubator.

"I'm certain," she answered. "Every test we've run on it shows signs of it being a normal Pichu egg. It just doesn't want to come out."

Hau started as the egg rocked slightly and grinned as he smoothed a hand over the shell.

"Well, maybe she just needs some encouragement."

"She? Oh goodness, Hau, really?"

"Really. I can feel it. She's formed enough to have some thoughts, but it's like she's sleeping."

Lillie sighed and shook her head.

"That's the most reaction we've gotten in weeks. I'm almost afraid to ask for your help after last time…"

"It's not my fault they're all so cute! I would give them all a home if I could!"

"Hau, you did try to give them all a home. Gladion and I had to pry all the Pokemon in the nursery off you while you cried and you still tried to sneak a Pichu out!"

Hau hung his head in mock defeat.

"Fine, fine. At least let me take a walk with this one, at least. You should join me. Maybe we can convince this little one it's time to come out."

Lillie acquiesced, and they found themselves wandering around outside the main Paradise building. Hau wrapped the egg in his Kahuna mantle to help keep it warm from the cold ocean breezes. It was getting to be near monsoon season again.

He almost dropped the egg when Lillie suddenly asked, "So, when are you going to ask my brother to marry you?"

"Lillie, don't just spring stuff on me like that!" She huffed out her cheeks in irritation.

"You're avoiding my question. Anyone with eyes can see how into each other you two are. It's been almost eight months and you're both the happiest I've ever seen. Everyone is expecting you to pop the question any day now."

"Why me?"

"I shouldn't have to answer that, Hau."

"Okay, fine, that's fair. I just…" He sighed and cradled the egg closer to his chest. "I'm not sure he's even really considered that, to be honest."

"I think you're giving him far less credit than he deserves," she pointed out. "He might not have considered it in those terms, yes, but I'm pretty sure he wants to stay by your side as long as you'll have him, Hau."

The egg shook slightly in his arms, perhaps sensing his distress. Hau sent a wave of assurances towards it and it quieted once more.

"Go for it, Hau," Lillie urged. "I don't think he'll say no. You certainly have my blessing to do so and Dad's asked about it as well so I think he's okay with it."

"Maybe," Hau said. "Let me think about it. We should probably start to head back. I don't want this little one getting colder than she needs to."

He held out the wrapped up egg towards Lillie, who took it carefully in her arms.

"I'll get something prepared so you can take it home," she told him. "You have to come back with it the moment it hatches, though!"

"I'll try my best," Hau said with a laugh as she turned on her heel to head back towards the main Paradise building.

"Hau."

He froze. It'd been years since he's actually heard Lusamine speak, much less towards him, but he would recognize her voice any day. Lillie turned around, a question obviously in her eyes, but Hau shooed her on. Whatever Lusamine had to say, it was for his ears only.

He faced her, chiding himself for his fight-or-flight response. Regardless of what happened a decade ago, he should at least hear her out.

Lusamine looked so small and worn, hardly the pristine and sharp force she had been years prior. Her Clefable was at her side, one of its small hands gently helping to steady her. In its other hand was a Heal ball, perhaps its own.

"I have a favor to ask of you, if you would let me speak. I know we've never been on the best terms but I feel you are the only one who could do this for me."

Hau said nothing, but also did not walk away. Lusamine seemed to gather herself for a moment before she continued.

"Though Lillie has little interest in being a trainer now, she did have a Pokemon when she was small. Gladion did as well. Their father and I decided that it would be best for them to grow up with Pokemon by their side, especially as we weren't always around due to researching the Ultra Wormholes that seemed to be popping up more frequently. We let them pick out their own companions and helped them capture them since they were so young. Lillie caught a Lillipup, and we had a a bit of hard time for a while after she named it Lillie as well."

Lusamine paused, a bit of a wistful smile ghosting across her face. A bit of prodding from the Clefable encouraged her to continue.

"Gladion had a harder time deciding on his companion," she explained. "Mohn took him along on a trip to the observatory on Mount Hokulani one night to collect some data readings. An Ultra Wormhole opened up nearby when they were there and in the chaos and confusion, Gladion disappeared. They finally found him behind the observatory and in his arms was a Cleffa.

"From then on, he and that Cleffa were inseparable. It eventually evolved into a Clefairy because their bond was strong. They would have never separated willingly, but between my own insecurities and Nihilego's influence, I tore them from each other, along with Lillie's Lillipup. It wasn't long after that Gladion fled from the Foundation with Type: Null. Perhaps he thought that he would be able to one day save his and his sister's Pokemon if he became strong enough. I'm not sure if he even remembers her, to be honest, but I would like to right a wrong in the only way I can."

The Clefable approached Hau and held out the ball with both hands. He crouched down to accept it.

"I've tried to get her to leave me over and over, but she refuses," she told him. Her voice was starting to tremble. "I don't know why. Even when I left her for years, even when she saw him again, she refused to leave. Maybe she thinks this is what he would have wanted, for her to take care of me and put our family back together.

"The only thing I can do now is to maybe give him back a piece of what I took from him years ago. A while ago, Clefable approached me with an egg. I can only assume that it was hers, as it hatched into a very small Cleffa. I would like him to have it, but he would never accept it from me. Please, pass this along to him."

A tear escaped down her face and she furiously rubbed it away. The Clefable tottered back to Lusamine and took her hand to lead her away.

"Lusamine," he called after her, and the pair stopped. "What happened to Lillie's Pokemon?"

"I believe Mohn has it," she said. "He managed to take it with him when he disappeared years ago. It's a Herdier now. He's tried to convince it to return to Lillie as well, but it seems content to help him out on the Pelago." She turned to leave again, but paused. "Thank you, Hau. For making him so happy."

He watched Lusamine and the Clefable leave hand in hand back towards the Aether mansion, and the ball softly rocked in his hand.

* * *

He found Gladion down in the labs, hunched over a touch screen with his hair in a bun and glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He swept images to the side as he jotted down notes in a notebook. Silvally seemed to be napping peacefully behind him, but was more likely than not on guard against any of Faba's machinations. He was most likely trying to wrap up the Mew sequence research to a point that someone would be able to take his place for however long he was going to be in Sinnoh.

It was only Hau's hand on his shoulder that snapped him out of his reverie. Gladion flinched and squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to calm himself.

"Sorry," Hau apologized. "I didn't realize that you were that into it."

"It's fine," Gladion told him and pushed himself away from the screen. He pulled off the glasses and let them hang from a lanyard around his neck. "I don't usually see you down here. Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly," Hau said and after making sure they were alone, shut the door to the lab. Without the bright lights of the hallway, the room was only illuminated by the blue glow of the screens. "I was given something today that was for you."

He held out the Heal ball.

Gladion gave him a curious look and took it from his hands. Immediately, the ball sprang open in a burst of light and a small Cleffa now sat at Gladion's feet. It reached out for his leg and rubbed its face against his pants while humming softly. Gladion stared at it in shock before finally looking back up at Hau.

"Did she put you up to this?" he finally snapped. Sensing the change in mood in the room, the Cleffa whined as its eyes began to water. Despite his anger, Gladion reached down to scoop it up.

"Would you be willing to listen to me before you blow a gasket?" Hau asked him tersely.

"She can't just buy her way back into my life, Hau," he snarled, "and I'm not going to let her use innocent Pokemon as bargaining chips!"

The Cleffa began to wail.

"I don't think it was her idea, Gladion!" Hau exclaimed and irritably tugged at his pony tail. "I mean, yes, she did approach me but this wasn't entirely her idea."

"Then whose was it? Mohn's?"

"Try that mother of that Cleffa."

Gladion froze, eyes wide. Sufficiently taken down a peg, he rocked the upset Pokemon back and forth in his arms until its crying dissolved into quiet hiccups and whimpers.

"She told you about my first Pokemon, then."

"She did. Clefable was the one who gave me the ball, though."

"She never came back to me. Even after Lusamine left, after there was no one else for her to belong to, she still didn't want to come back to me. She just waited until Lillie finally took her with to Kanto."

"Maybe she knew someone else needed her more. You had Silvally at that point. Your mother didn't really have anyone."

The Cleffa startled in Gladion's arms as tears fell on its sensitive ears. Distracted from its own misery, it started to sing softly and tried to reach up to touch his face.

"I don't know why she would want me to forgive Lusamine, out of everyone. She had a front row seat to everything that happened."

Hau knelt by Gladion's chair and reached up to help the Cleffa wipe away his tears.

"Maybe it's not necessarily about forgiving her, Gladion, but starting to heal yourself from everything that happened," Hau told him softly as he softly kissed his forehead. Delighted at the show of affection, the Cleffa started to sing a bit louder.

"Maybe. I don't think I can do it alone, though."

"I wouldn't let you if you tried."

Gladion smiled, the biggest smile Hau had ever seen on him, as he buried his face into the Cleffa's fur.


End file.
